Category reported for URL is different in Site Review compare to Cloud SWG reporting

Products

• Cloud Secure Web Gateway - Cloud SWG

Issue/Introduction

Users getting blocked accessing sites due to the fact that they are uncategorised.

When checking these blocked sites in Site Review, they seem to be categorised correctly. As an example, a user was blocked accessing https://example.com/food, due to the fact that it was uncategorised.  Adding this same URL into Site Review, the returned category is "Restaurants/Food" despite Cloud SWG reporting "Uncategorized".

Why do we have this inconsistency between the two services, and how can we fix it?

Environment

Cloud Secure Web Gateway (Cloud SWG).

Edge Secure Web Gateway (Edge SWG).

Online Site Review tool.

Cause

The reason of differences is the fact that the URL is rated by Web Pulse system, which is dynamic categorization system.

Realtime categorization may vary between proxies, and can change at any time once more data is available to the Web Pulse.

Resolution

In order to ensure the categorization of the URL is reliable between proxies, it is best to request site categorization via Site Review (https://sitereview.bluecoat.com/). In the bottom of the page there is the following form to fill:

Once the category is assigned, Web Pulse will not be mentioned anymore in the Site Review page. Instead, you will see something similar to this:

Updated site category will replicate between the proxies usually within few hours.